Trimble and AGCO to Form Joint Venture
Trimble expects $3 billion in value from the transaction
Saying it wants to create a global leader in mixed fleet smart farming and autonomy solutions, Trimble TRMB 0.00%↑ has agreed to form a joint venture with AGCO AGCO 0.00%↑ to offer farmers factory and aftermarket solutions for the precision agriculture market. Overall, Trimble said it expects $3 billion in value from the transaction from pre-tax cash proceeds, its 15 percent stake in the joint venture and related commercial agreements.
Under the terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the first half of 2024, Trimble will offer its precision agriculture business, Trimble Ag, but exclude certain GNSS and guidance technologies. For its part, AGCO will offer its JCA Technologies business, which includes autonomous software for farm machines, implement controls and electronic system components.
Trimble said it will receive $2 billion in pre-tax cash proceeds plus a 15 percent stake in the joint venture. More than $1.5 billion in net proceeds will be used to repay $1.1 billion in debt and repurchase stock, the company said.
Other joint venture provisions include that the companies enter a supply agreement where Trimble will provide GNSS and guidance technologies. The deal allows for a technology transfer and license agreement that the joint venture will use after the expiration of the supply agreement. The joint venture will also serve as a Trimble channel partner for its positioning services in the ag market.
“We believe a joint venture with AGCO, complemented by the successful mixed fleet approach that they have developed with their Precision Planting business model, can help us better serve farmers and OEMs together," said Rob Painter, Trimble's president and CEO, in a statement.
Trimble and Kyivstar Partner for GNSS Correction Services in Ukraine
In other company news, Trimble and Kyivstar, Ukraine's largest telecommunications company, are partnering to install a new Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) network to provide GNSS correction services across the embattled country. The companies say that the network will provide GNSS corrections data for agriculture, construction, geospatial, IoT and other commercial operations.
Trimble, as part of a revenue-sharing model with Kyivstar, will install the network on Kyivstar's communication towers. The installation will use Trimble Alloy reference receivers for GNSS tracking and Trimble Zephyr model 3 antennas and its Pivot Platform software.
As the war in Ukraine rages on, Russian local area jamming has been a concern. “For ground-based users, jamming is a relatively localized threat. If individual stations are impacted by Russian jamming, the VRS system is tolerant of stations going down and will continue to operate,” said Oliver Casabianca, vice president, Trimble Positioning Services. “Pivot has user access control, so only authorized users will have access to the data.”
The company said the first phase of installation calls for 41 communication towers and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. A second phase, with 150 additional towers, is expected to be completed in 2024. “Installation and support will be provided by Trimble’s local geospatial distributor KMC Ltd. Safety and security is our priority, and all decisions will be made with this in mind,” Casabianca said.
In other Trimble news:
In a busy week for Trimble, the company launched its SketchUp Viewer for Meta META 0.00%↑ Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro and Meta Quest 3, to allow users to present 3D SketchUp models in virtual reality. SketchUp Viewer for Quest enables interior designers, architects, engineers, and construction (AEC) professionals using a Quest VR headset to engage colleagues and clients in experiential design reviews for more informed decision-making and collaboration, the company said.
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MappedIn Launches Indoor Mapping Solution
To address a market that industry experts say is taking off, Canada-based MappedIn this week launched Maker, a free app within the company’s indoor mapping platform. Mappedin Maker allows users with no mapping background, as well as CAD experts, to map commercial and community venues directly from maker.mappedin.com or the Maker app for iOS, the company said.
Five years ago, the only large market for indoor mapping and wayfinding products was shopping malls, said MappedIn CEO Hongwei Liu. “They knew they had to create a ‘Google Maps’ experience for their centers in a much more dynamic environment—Santa Claus tends to move around. MappedIn won that market, with over a third of enclosed shopping malls in the world as our customers today,” he said. “Now, the market has exploded to everything else. This includes offices, airports, hospitals, hotels, museums, schools and community centers. The more digital indoor maps are available, the more they are expected to just be there.”
MappedIn’s roots in homeland security markets helped the company develop the new solution, Liu said. “[We were] proud to have worked with the [U.S.] Department of Homeland Security’s S&T group to build automation and computer vision capabilities into our products. The funding and, even more importantly, the credibility provided by DHS helped catapult our company in a whole new direction,” he said. “And as it turns out, a tool that firefighters can use to make indoor preplans can also be used by everyone else to make useful maps.”
Prior to Mappedin Maker, the company’s indoor mapping platform was accessible only to enterprise companies with professional expertise. The product now allows a user to create a georeferenced vector map of a building in a matter of minutes by taking a photo of an indoor space and then use the software’s tools, the company said.
Contact: Chandra Lynn, for MappedIn, (650) 464-5708, press@mappedin.com, www.mappedin.com.
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MWC Las Vegas Focuses on 5G, Connectivity. Not So Much Location…
LAS VEGAS—While this year’s MWC Las Vegas 2023 trade show here focused on the carrier’s 5G efforts, connectivity solutions and AI, location industry participation was only visible through product introductions and displays.
Quectel Wireless Solutions launched its EG916Q-GL, a Cat 1 bis module, based on the Qualcomm QCOM 0.00%↑ QCX216 LTE IoT modem. The module is marketed to companies involved in asset management, telematics, payment solutions, remote monitoring and control, security and automation, smart metering and others.
The company also showed off its CC200A-LB and CC660D-LS satellite communications IoT modules for maritime, transportation, heavy equipment and natural resources applications.
Thalwil, Switzerland-based u-blox [UBXN] displayed its new LEXI-R10 LTE Cat 1bis IoT module, which the company said is ideal for asset tracking and aftermarket telematics because of its small size.
The module is three times smaller than the company’s LENA-R8. LTE Cat 1bis, initially introduced in 2016, has gained market attention due to the sunset of 2G cellular technology, u-blox said.
Taoglas Canada signed a sales representative agreement with Calgary-based EPIC Technical Sales to support their customers, Taoglas customers and distribution partners in Western Canada. EPIC will sell the company’s GNSS antennas, among many others, in Western Canada, the company said.
Other MWC thoughts and news:
IoT company Wiliot rolled out its enhanced version of Cloud and IoT Pixels. The platform includes the ability to sense and analyze humidity levels of individual products throughout the supply chain, the company said. The platform also has temperature, carbon emissions measurement and location sensing/data.
There was sense that the show floor was smaller this year—and that more companies opted for meeting rooms, rather than standard booths.
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Other Location News:.
News tip? Send them to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
Top News:
🚛 California Governor Vetoes Bill to Ban Driverless AV Trucks. “California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have required a human safety operator to be present any time a self-driving truck operated on public roads in the state. The win for the autonomous trucking industry comes after the California Senate passed the bill in mid-September. The bill would have effectively banned driverless autonomous heavy-duty trucks from operating in the way they were designed.”
😉 FAA Authorizes Zipline International to Deliver Commercial Packages Using Drones That Fly Beyond Operator's Line of Sight. “Read the approval letters here and here.”
🛰 ISRO Working To Expand Navigation System NaVIC Coverage to 3,000 KM From 1,500 KM Beyond India. “The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is planning to increase the coverage of its Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NaVIC) from 1,500 kilometers to 3,000 kilometers.”
🏛 U.S. Commerce Department issues guardrails for CHIPS. “The U.S. Commerce Department’s guardrails for how more than $100 billion in government funding will be doled out included a provision that disbursements can’t expand semiconductor manufacturing in “foreign countries of concern.”
😐 Qualcomm To Reduce Staff in China Amid Dwindling Smartphone Demand.
👌 Vodafone Takes Another Step Towards Greater Road Safety With Platform Upgrade. “A new feature added to its pan-European vehicle safety platform, called Safer Transport for Europe Platform (STEP), will enable vehicles to be driven remotely while also supporting cooperative platooning over cellular communications.”
🤔 Amazon Location Services Announces a Price Reduction of up to 75% For Tracking and Geofencing.
Maps:
🗺 Introducing Radar Maps Platform. “Radar Maps Platform includes vector base maps and a full suite of enterprise-ready geocoding, search, and routing APIs. Together with a Geofencing Platform, Radar provides full-stack location infrastructure for any product or service.
The company says that “Google Maps and Mapbox have long dominated the mapping developer tools space. But recently, platforms like these have gotten more expensive and restrictive.”
🌎 Overture Maps: Building Interoperable Map Data, Adding Unique IDs. “Executive Director Marc Prioleau expects to complete the ID process for the worldwide dataset by year end.”
📌 Yodel Partners with what3words. “UK independent parcel carrier Yodel has signed a partnership with what3words.”
👍 James Killick: Why Did Apple get into Maps? (And how they got there). Interview in Minds Behind Maps.
🙂 Wam. Bam. Instant Indoor Maps. “I put it to you that in just a few years not having an indoor map of your buildings or facilities will be like not having a high speed data connection.”
✈ JFKIAT teams up with Google Maps to launch Indoor Live View at JFK Terminal 4. JFKIAT, the operator of John F. Kennedy International Airport’s Terminal 4, has announced the availability of Google Indoor Live View in the terminal.
📱 Google Maps Rival Introduces "Shortest Route" Navigation. Here's Why This Is Huge News. “Sygic, one of the companies investing in professional navigation software, believes the shortest route to the destination could also be the best choice.”
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Connected and Autonomous Vehicles:
🚘 Smart, Mobileye Bring Advanced Automation to New EV. “Owned by Mercedes and Geely, Smart is launching a special edition chock-full of autonomous features later this year.”
👍 What Commercial Autonomous Technology Can Do for US Army Modernization. “While these vehicles are not yet as resourceful as human drivers, they are programmed to come to a safe stop, pull over, return to base, or even call for a human to offer remote assistance.”
🚓 Mobileye Seals Another Huge Deal for Its Self-Driving Tech. “The company will supply its SuperVision and Chauffeur platforms to China’s FAW Group.”
🚗 Scoop: Driverless Cruise Cars Are Already on Houston Streets. “Cruise is testing autonomous vehicles without safety drivers in Houston ahead of a planned expansion into commercial nighttime service by the end of the year.”
🚜 Self-Driving Agricultural Vehicle Designed for Vineyards, Orchards. “Robotics Plus has launched an autonomous, multi-use agricultural vehicle designed for orchard and vineyard crop tasks.”
🚕 Dubai To Start Robotaxi Trials Next Month in Major Autonomous Push. “Five fully autonomous electric taxis, operated by Cruise, will begin test driving on a 5-mile stretch.”
Other Stuff:
😉 Apple Considered Using GPS To Control Adaptive Audio Levels in AirPods Pro. “Apple once considered using the iPhone’s GPS to control Adaptive Audio levels – which ended up not happening.”
🙂 Osiris-Rex Used a Tesla-Esque Navigation System To Capture 4.5 Billion-Year-Old Regolith. “NASA too eschewed Lidar in favor of visible-spectrum cameras.”
😮 Shades of Michael Scott: Doordash Driver Charged After Following GPS Into Water. “Police said the driver was able to exit the vehicle and walk to a nearby home, Dunkin’ order in hand.”
Drones:
🛩 Baltimore Police Brave Us Blacklist Pressures to Launch UAV Unit With DJI Drones. Not sure if “brave” is the word for this…
Financial:
💲 Iridium Forecasts $1B Service Revenue in 2030.
✔ MapsPeople Announces Q2 Financial Momentum.
☹ Scooter Company Bird Delisted From NYSE After Stock Collapse, Will Trade Over the Counter. “The scooter company was once valued at $2.5 billion by private investors.”
✔ Ituran Location and Control Has Announced a Dividend of 15 Cents.
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Location Industry Briefs
Send your news releases to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
Yaletown Partners Invests in oneNav
Yaletown Partners have invested in Sunnyvale, Calif.-based oneNav, which recently rolled out its pureL5 Acquisition Receiver Core (pARC) GNSS augmentation product. Financial details were not disclosed. OneNav recently closed a $17 million Series C funding round that was spearheaded by MVP Ventures, along with Google Ventures, GSR Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners and In-Q-Tel.
Contact: Ellen Kirk, oneNav, (650) 678-0240, info@onenav.ai, www.onenav.ai.
Caruso and Toyota Partner for Fleet Management Solutions
CARUSO has announced a partnership with Toyota to optimize connected car data for fleet management solutions. Toyota will provide telematics data, while CARUSO said it will provide standardization, specialized consultancy, along with complementary services, to Toyota’s fleet customers.
Some of the offerings will include connected car data, tracking vehicle mileage, maintaining detailed logbooks and others, the company said.
Contact: Tina Rauschenbach, CARUSO, customerexperience@caruso-dataplace.com, www.caruso-dataplace.com.
HERE Partners With Eco-Movement for Charging Solutions
HERE Technologies has partnered with Eco-Movement to create charging solutions for EV drivers globally. HERE and Eco-Movement will deliver charge point data to the automotive industry that leverages testing, artificial intelligence, vehicle sensor data, and charging station user feedback, the companies say.
HERE and Eco-Movement have incorporated eMobility Service Provider support to allow EV drivers to locate charge points supported by their specific charging service, the companies say. HERE also offers EV OEMs a bring-your-own-data option to support custom eMSP listings in their branded navigation solutions, the company said.
Contact: Sebastian Kurme, HERE, 49 173 515 3549, sebastian.kurme@here.com.
Point One Navigation’s GraphQL API Enables Seamless Integration of Precision Location
Point One Navigation has launched GraphQL API, which delivers integration and observability into precision location for GNSS-powered devices. GraphQL API simplifies development, eliminating the need for vendor libraries, intermediate data stores or working with convoluted networks of REST endpoints, the company said.
Developers building RTK-enabled products can seamlessly integrate precise location into their products and services, the company said. Using Point One’s GraphQL API, developers can now send a single HTTPS request and receive plain, well-formed JSON data that can be used natively without an intermediate datastore or application, the company said.
Contact: Mark Shapiro, for Point One Navigation, (619) 249-7742, mshapiro@srs-techpr.com, www.pointonenav.com/graphql-API.
Skydell 23.8 Has Launched
Safran, in its third major release this year, says it has added more power and features to Skydel, its flagship GNSS simulation engine. Skydel 23.8 can now generate 1.5 more signals from a base configuration on a single workstation, the company said.
Users can bring added realism to their scenarios and simulate all GNSS constellations, multipath echoes, interference, and LEO signals at the same time, the company said. The new version simulation can now support simulation of 63 satellites in the GPS constellation, the company said.
Contact: Charles Jones, Safran, (585) 450-2889, charles.jones@nav-timing.safrangroup.com.
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Mojio and Skybell To Offer Telematics Service
Mojio and SkyBell are partnering to develop a new integrated video telematics solution. Powered by the Mojio Platform, the video telematics service combines 4G LTE connected hardware with cloud-based services and front-end software for consumers and fleets, the company said.
The solution can be integrated with existing telematics programs, used to build new products and services, or deployed via one of Mojio’s connected mobility services. Customers can view their vehicles on maps with live GPS tracking, use custom geofences for contextual status updates, and get safety scores and detailed insights from each trip taken, the company said.
Contact: Mojio, www.moj.io.
Enlighted Adds AI and Partners to Location Intelligence
Enlighted, owned by Siemens, has announced the expanded use of artificial intelligence (AI) in its Location Intelligence solution and new additions its partner ecosystem. The company said the new AI integration allows its Real Time Location Services (RTLS) system to have 98 percent accuracy for its assets and personnel finding capability. Enlighted’s AI solutions are part of the Siemens Xcelerator Marketplace.
Contact: Ellen Gustafson, Enlighted, (415) 505-6783, ellen.gustafson@siemens.com, enlightedinc.com.
Truvami Launches B2B Asset Tracking Solution
Zürich-based truvami has launched a tracking solution for multi-purpose B2B use at The Things Conference last week in Amsterdam. The tiny trackers work indoors and outdoors, integrating IoT, wireless communications and cloud networking domains, the company said. Truvami started as a joint project between Swisscom Broadcast AG and Miromico AG.
“When trackers have to be attached to assets, like boxes, crates and pallets as used in transport-logistics, the usual GPS-trackers are too large to be attached to such assets,” said Chiara Koopmans, truvami managing director.
Contact: Chiara Koopmans, truvami, press@truvami.com, www.truvami.com.
Parkopedia and Blink Charging Partner
Parkopedia has partnered with Blink Charging to allow its users to access nearly 12,000 Blink public chargers at 4,000 U.S. locations. The agreement increases Parkopedia’s presence in the North American market, with the company expanding its Park and Charge EV service, the company said.
As cited in the 2023 Global Driver Survey, including nearly 60 percent of U.S. EV drivers, are concerned about finding charging away from home and more than 1 in 3 drivers struggling to find EV public charging locations “all the time” or “very frequently.”
Contact: Adam Calland, Parkopedia, 44(0)7838219129, adam.calland@parkopedia.com.
Octo Telematics Launches Digital Driver Try Before You Buy
OCTO Telematics has launched of the Digital Driver Try Before You Buy solution. The monitoring features of Try Before You Buy allows an insurance company to define customer pricing based on actual driving behavior data, the company said. With the app, insurance companies can pre-select potential customers with a high willingness to use telematics, streamline the onboarding process and better manage policy holders, the company said.
Contact: Adriana Zambon, Octo Telematics, 9 339 399 56 40
adriana.zambon@octotelematics.com, www.octotelematics.com.
KP Rolls Out Vehicle GPS Antennas
Infinite Electronics’ KP Performance Antennas has launched its vehicle GPS antennas designed to redefine accuracy and reliability in automotive applications. These vehicle GPS antennas come equipped with a high gain of 28 dB, allowing them to capture weak signals, the company said.
Setting these antennas apart from conventional GPS antennas is their high out-of-band rejection, the company said.
Contact: KP Performance Antennas, (855) 276-5772, www.kpperformance.com.
ITM/PTTI 2024 Abstract Deadline is October 4, 2023
Submit your abstract today for the ION's International Technical Meeting (ITM) that is being co-located with the Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting (PTTI), to be held January 22-25, 2024, at the Hyatt Regency in Long Beach, CA.
Contact: ION, (703) 366-2723, membership@ion.org, www.ion.org.
STOPit Launches Panic Alert System
STOPit Solutions has launched its Panic Alert System to help members in a crisis or non-life-threatening situation. The system, powered by the acquisition of PunchAlert, features Echo for Indoor Location to offer indoor location tracking for emergency response. Another features is a Utilizing cutting-edge technology, this feature offers precise indoor location tracking for swift and accurate emergency response within 911+ Concierge to monitor emergencies in real-time, the company said.
Contact: STOPit, www.stopitsolutions.com.
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People
David Smith has been named principal, autonomous site system architect at Hexagon's Autonomy & Positioning division.
Rapid Applications Group has appointed Tim Curran as CEO. Co-founder Matthew Bullis will remain on the executive team as the Chief Strategy Officer.
CEVA CEVA 0.00%↑ has named Iri Trashanski as Chief Strategy Officer.
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